It is 5pm on Thursday night. This blog is scheduled to be updated at 5:30pm. One slight problem- I have no idea what I want to write about. There are lots of little thoughts going around my head, but nothing fully formed in to a post. I read all the blogs I read today, commented on a number of them, and yet still, nothing really inspired me. I blame the post-birthday, pre-Christmas doldrums.

So, since I only have little thoughts running around my head, here some of them are.

Besides being my birthday, yesterday would have been my grandparent’s 66^th wedding anniversary. I say “would have been” because we lost my grandmother this spring. I talked to my grandfather today. He apologized for getting my birthday card out late. I know he’s sending me money. I know he and my grandmother had things set so that they would have (and certainly have had, despite her medical expenses) a comfortable retirement. And I think to myself, that’s what I want one day- to be married to the same person for over 65 years, and to not have to worry about money to the point that I can send 8 grandkids each $100 for Christmas. How much worse would this all be for him if he had to worry about money?

My 20 y/o cousin drove up from Portland for my birthday dinner last night. We paid for her food, and I’ll give her gas money- she’s a college student, after all. We also took her to Target and CostCo and got her a can opener and an electric kettle. She’s at an age where the practical matters, and means more than the fanciful. At the same time, I let her choose one of C’s gifts for him to get early, since it’s a game that they enjoy playing together. As I write this, they are playing one game without me, but expect me to join them for the next.

I feel better about the Christmas gifts I gave my family this year than I have in years. And you know what I gave? I donated to charities I knew they would support. For my father, we gave to Pets 2 Vets. For my mother, to Petfinder.com to sponsor training for shelter dogs to make them more adoptable. And for my brother, we’re sponsoring care for special needs animals. (Yes, animals are a major deal in my family.)

And when C kept insisting that he needed to give me a gift, we decided instead to donate to the Kissa-Bull family.

We still have some groceries to buy for Christmas dinner, as C finalizes the menu, but there will be only 6 people and 4 dogs, so a fairly low-key day. And, I’ll get ham in addition to our New York roast (to be made in the fryer we bought for the Thanksgiving turkey). That means ham sandwiches, which always makes me happy.

We had dinner last night with 17 of our friends. Officially, it was to celebrate my birthday, but really, it’s an excuse for us all to eat yummy Indian food, and to connect with our “chosen family” before we all separate into our birth families for the holidays. One of the friends there, I have known for 20 years. It always makes me happy to see my old friends and my new friends meeting, getting along, and forming friendships of their own. In addition, this year we forgot to ask for separate checks. Still, when the bill came, everyone pulled out their smart phones, did the math, and we left the right amount of tip for our server. She might even have gotten a bit more (depending on what other people with credit cards tipped). But that’s okay, because for a party of 19, that gets there at 6:30 and stays until close, the server is losing out on other tables, and deserves the big tip. (Plus we had great service.)

So that’s where we are. I will be back on Sunday night, probably not for a regular Sunday evening post, but to wish you all a Happy Holiday.